Producing raw dehydrated irish potatoes.



UNITED STATES PATENT oE IoE.

J man I. S, m, WAUEESHA, WISCONSIN, ABSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN mmnmrmo 00., OF 'WAUKISHA, .WISCOHSIN.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Enoan B. HUTCHINB,

- Jr., a citizen of the United States of Americe, and a resident of Waukesha, county of Waukesha, State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Producing Raw Dehydrated ish Potatoes, of which the following is a specification.

It has heretofore proved impracticable, as

far as I am aware, to preserve Irish pota-- toes in salable form in an uncooked condition. This is owing to the fact that raw Irish potatoes oxidize very rapidly when exposed to the air and when so oxidized, turn black and are unsuitable for culinary purposes. Consequently ithas been found impracticable to dry raw Irish otatoes by the tofore been dried and have been put on the market in sealed ackages, but in every instance I believe they have been steamed or cooked prior to the drying. My experiments have shown that when Irish potatoes which have been preserved in a raw deh drated condition, are cooked, the flavor 0 such potatoes is ractically indistinguishable from that of esh potatoes. Moreover such raw dehydrated potatoes may be fried even more quickly than fresh raw potatoes;

' while the flavor -of the product whlch is obtained by recookm' g the dehydrated potato which had been cooked previous to the drying, is quite inferior to that of the fresh article.

The ob'ect of this invention therefore, is to provi e raw Irish potatoespacked in a dehydrated condition, so that they can be kept without chan e for a long period of time, and can then restored to their ori nal condition so as to be indistinguisha le fromthe fresh vegetable.

I am also aware that it has been proposed Specification Letters Patent.

. Application filed June 7,1900. Serial Io. 500,517.

PRODUCING DEEYDRA'I'ED POTATOES.

Patented Feb. e, 1912.

to dry sweet potatoes without a previous cookin but sweet potatoes are not noticeably afiectedby oxidation during the process of removing water from them by a current of dry air. Cons uentl the problem is quite different from t at w ich one faces when he attempts to dry raw Irish potatoes. Irish potatoes are rendered unsalable when they are dried by the methods which have been proposed for dryin sweet potatoes on account of blackening ue to oxidation in the air. 7 v

I have discovered that I can successfully dry or dehydrate raw Irish potatoes by the process to ,be described and I believe it is the only process which can be successfully used for t e pur ose.

The essential eatures for the process are: The use of a vacuum drier to extract the moisture from the potatoes, instead of subjecting them to a current of hot or dry air as has been done in the case of other vegetables and fruits. Theexclusion of all air from the drying chamber by filling it with an inert gas efore the potatoes are placed therein, and pumping out thegas to produce the vacuum after the otatoes have been introduced into the chem er.

In practicing this process, I proceed as follows :The potatoes are peeled, washed and sliced. They are then placed on trays and immediately introduced into the drier, which is or may be any one of the known types of vacuum driers, and which has reviouslybeen filled with an inert gas suc as nitrogen, carbonic acid gas or the like. As soon as the shelves ofthe drier are filled with the trays containi the sliced potatoes, the drieris closed as tig tly as posslble, and

a suction pump connected thereto is set into operation to draw out the gas until the pres sure in the drier is reduced to a suitable amount. Preferably, small quantities of the gas are admitted from timeto time into the drier, for the urpose of displacing any air which may ave gained entrance to the I drier which ordinarily is not absolutely air tight. When the deb dration is complete, the potatoes are with awn and packed in sealed containers. Raw dehydrated Irish 100 Correction in Letters Patent No. 1,016,503.

10 vacuum drier filled with an inert gas, drawrecord of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

[SEAL] ing ofi' said as and, at the same time, the moisture of t e potatoes, and packaging the latter before any moisture can have access to them.

Signed at Waukesha, this 21st day of May, A. D. 1909.

EDGAR B. HUTCHINS, JR.- Witnesses:

WALTER R. FRAME, FRANK M. WELNIK.

[t is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,016,503, granted February ,6,

1912, upon the application of Edgar B. Hutchins, Jr., of Waakesha, Wisconsin, for an improvement in Producing Raw Dehydrated lrish Potatoes, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction asfollows: Page 2, line 6, after the word method insert the preposition of; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the Signed and sealed this 12th day of March, A. 1)., 1912.

E. B. MOORE,

Commissioner 0 f Patents.

Correction in Letters Patent No. 1,016,503.

10 vacuum drier filled with an inert gas, drawrecord of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

[SEAL] ing ofi' said as and, at the same time, the moisture of t e potatoes, and packaging the latter before any moisture can have access to them.

Signed at Waukesha, this 21st day of May, A. D. 1909.

EDGAR B. HUTCHINS, JR.- Witnesses:

WALTER R. FRAME, FRANK M. WELNIK.

[t is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,016,503, granted February ,6,

1912, upon the application of Edgar B. Hutchins, Jr., of Waakesha, Wisconsin, for an improvement in Producing Raw Dehydrated lrish Potatoes, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction asfollows: Page 2, line 6, after the word method insert the preposition of; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the Signed and sealed this 12th day of March, A. 1)., 1912.

E. B. MOORE,

Commissioner 0 f Patents.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,016,503, granted February 6, 1912, upon the application of Edgar B. Hutchins, Jr., of Waakesha, Wisconsin,

womd S;

for an improvement in Producing Raw Dehydrated Irish Potatoes, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 6, after the word method insert the preposition of; and that the said Letters Patent should he read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 12th day of March, A. D., 1912.

i E. B. MOORE,

Cbmm'issioner of Patents. 

